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Andrew Brown

Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς), son of *Peleus and *Thetis; greatest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War; central character of *Homer's Iliad.
His name may be of Mycenaean Greek origin, ...
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Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς), son of *Peleus and *Thetis; greatest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War; central character of *Homer's Iliad.

His name may be of Mycenaean Greek origin, meaning ‘a grief to the army’. If so, the destructive Wrath of Achilles, which forms the subject of the Iliad, must have been central to his mythical existence from the first.

In Homer he is king of Phthia, or ‘Hellas and Phthia’, in southern Thessaly (see phthiotis), and his people are the Myrmidons. As described at Il. 2. 681–5 the size of his kingdom, and of his contingent in the Trojan expedition (50 ships), is not outstanding. But in terms of martial prowess, which is the measure of excellence for a Homeric hero, Achilles' status as ‘best of the Achaeans’ is unquestioned. We are reminded of his absolute supremacy throughout the poem, even during those long stretches for which he is absent from the battlefield.

Ken Dowden

Alcestis, in mythology, daughter of *Pelias, wife of Admetus king of *Pherae (Thessaly), who is prepared to die in his place.Pelias promised Alcestis to whoever could yoke a lion and boar to a ...
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Alcestis, in mythology, daughter of *Pelias, wife of Admetus king of *Pherae (Thessaly), who is prepared to die in his place.Pelias promised Alcestis to whoever could yoke a lion and boar to a chariot (Apollod. 1. 9. 15). Admetus was assisted in this feat by his lover (Soph. fr. 851 Radt) Apollo (cf. *Poseidon, *Pelops, and *Hippodamia), who had been punished by serfdom to Admetus for killing the *Cyclopes (Hes. Catalogus mulierum frs. 51–7 M–W) or the Pythian snake. But at his marriage Admetus forgets to sacrifice to *Artemis and finds the bridal chamber full of snakes. On *Apollo's advice he appeases Artemis and obtains from the Fates the concession that someone may die in his place. In the event, only Alcestis will, but Kore (*Persephone) sends her back from death or (in tragedy) *Heracles rescues her by wrestling with Death (*Thanatos).Less

Andrew Brown

Antigone (1), daughter of *Oedipus and Iocasta, sister of *Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene.
*Sophocles (1)'s Antigone deals with events after the Theban War, in which Eteocles and ...
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Antigone (1), daughter of *Oedipus and Iocasta, sister of *Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene.

*Sophocles (1)'s Antigone deals with events after the Theban War, in which Eteocles and Polynices killed one another (see seven against thebes). Antigone's uncle *Creon (1), the new king of Thebes (1), has issued an edict forbidding anyone to bury the body of the traitor Polynices. Antigone, despite efforts at dissuasion by Ismene, insists on defying the edict. She is arrested and brought before Creon, and proudly defends her action. He decrees that she should be imprisoned in a tomb and left to die, although she is engaged to his son *Haemon (3). Creon is left unmoved by Haemon's arguments against such punishment, but is finally made to change his mind by the prophet *Tiresias, who reveals that the gods are angry at the exposure of Polynices and the burial of Antigone. He buries Polynices but arrives at Antigone's tomb too late: she has hanged herself, and Haemon, who has broken into the tomb, kills himself in front of his father. Creon's wife Eurydice also commits suicide, leaving Creon a broken man.

Richard Hunter

Apollonius (1) Rhodius, a major literary figure of 3rd-century bce*Alexandria (1), and poet of the Argonautica, the only extant Greek hexameter *epic written between *Homer and the Roman imperial ...
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Apollonius (1) Rhodius, a major literary figure of 3rd-century bce*Alexandria (1), and poet of the Argonautica, the only extant Greek hexameter *epic written between *Homer and the Roman imperial period.Our main sources are: POxy. 1241, a 2nd-cent. ce list of the librarians of the Royal Library at *Alexandria; two Lives transmitted with the manuscripts of Argonautica which probably contain material deriving from the late 1st century bce; and an entry in the Suda. All four state that Apollonius was from Alexandria itself, though two 2nd-century ce notices point rather to *Naucratis. The most likely explanation for the title “Rhodian” is thus that Apollonius spent a period of his life there, which would accord well with what we know of his works, though it remains possible that he or his family came from *Rhodes. Apollonius served as librarian and royal tutor before .Less

Richard Hunter

Argonauts, one of the earliest (cf. Hom. Od. 12. 69–72) and most important Greek sagas, set in the generation before the Trojan War and involving heroes particularly associated with *Thessaly, ...
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Argonauts, one of the earliest (cf. Hom. Od. 12. 69–72) and most important Greek sagas, set in the generation before the Trojan War and involving heroes particularly associated with *Thessaly, central Greece, and the *Peloponnese. The main Greek literary sources are *Pindar's Fourth Pythian, the Argonautica of *Apollonius (1), and *Apollodorus (6) 1. 9. 16–26 (largely based on *Pherecydes (2) and Apollonius); certain incidents were treated by *Callimachus (3) in the Aitia.King *Pelias of Iolcus sought to rid himself of the threat to his kingship posed by the legitimate heir, *Jason (1), by sending the young man off to recover the fleece of a golden ram upon which Phrixus had fled to the fabulous kingdom of the sun, Aia, ruled over by King Aeëtes. At least as early as the *Epic Cycle Aia was identified with the kingdom of *Colchis at the eastern end of the Black Sea.Less

Ken Dowden

Demodocus, in *Homer's Odyssey (8. 44–5, 62–4), a blind and respected first-class bard at *Alcinous (1)'s court—an image offered by Homer of his own role. He sings of the adultery of *Ares and ...
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Demodocus, in *Homer's Odyssey (8. 44–5, 62–4), a blind and respected first-class bard at *Alcinous (1)'s court—an image offered by Homer of his own role. He sings of the adultery of *Ares and *Aphrodite (8. 266–366), a comic pendant to the contrasts in Iliad 5, and sings of the (tragic) Trojan War so realistically that Odysseus weeps (8.Less

Richard Seaford

Many festivals of *Dionysus had special names, e.g. the *Anthesteria, the *Lenaea, etc. This article concerns those Attic festivals known as (a) τὰ κατ᾽ ἀγροὺς Διονύσια, the Rural Dionysia, and (b) ...
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Many festivals of *Dionysus had special names, e.g. the *Anthesteria, the *Lenaea, etc. This article concerns those Attic festivals known as (a) τὰ κατ᾽ ἀγροὺς Διονύσια, the Rural Dionysia, and (b) τὰ ἐν ἄστει or τὰ μεγάλα Διονύσια, the City or Great Dionysia. Festivals of Dionysus were widespread throughout the Greek world, but we know most about the *Attic ones, for which almost all surviving Greek drama was written.(a) The Rural Dionysia were celebrated, on various days by the different *demes, in the month of Posideon (roughly December). They provided an opportunity for the locality to reproduce elements of the City Dionysia, and we hear of performances of *tragedy, *comedy, and *dithyramb. There survive various inscriptions concerning the proceedings, notably from the *Piraeus, *Eleusis, Icarion, and Aixone. In *Aristophanes (1)'s Acharnians Dicaeopolis goes home to celebrate the festival: he draws up a little sacrificial procession in which his daughter is kanephoros (‘basket-bearer’), two slaves carry the *phallus, Dicaeopolis himself sings an obscene song to Phales, and his wife watches from the roof (241–79; cf.Less

Adam Rappold

A mythic king of the Trojans, son of Dardanus and Batea, and father of Troos. Little is known about the Trojan Erichthonius, apart from what is related in Homer—he was the grandson of Zeus, son of ...
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A mythic king of the Trojans, son of Dardanus and Batea, and father of Troos. Little is known about the Trojan Erichthonius, apart from what is related in Homer—he was the grandson of Zeus, son of Dardanus and the father of Troos, the progenitor of the Trojans (Iliad20.215-234).1Later elaborations add that his wife is named either Callirrhoe (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.62.2) Astyoche, and that his siblings alternatively include Ilus (Apollod. 3.12.2) or Zacynthus (Dionys. Ant. Rom. 1.50.3), along with a sister named Idaea (Diod. Sic. 4.43).Fabulously wealthy, he had a beautiful herd of horses with which Boreas mated, producing a line of supernatural horses that could run on the water (Iliad20.215-234, possibly Hesiod, fr. 177, lin. 14 =P. Oxy. 1359 fr. 2, ed. Grenfell–Hun, Oppian Cynegetica 1.225)—and are probably a mythic variant for the supernatural horses that Troos receives from Zeus in exchange for Ganymedes (Apollod.Less

Herbert Jennings Rose and Simon Hornblower

Euhemerus (Εὐήμερος), of *Messene, perhaps wrote while in the service of *Cassander (311–298 bce), but was perhaps active as late as 280 bce. He wrote a *novel of travel which was influential in the ...
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Euhemerus (Εὐήμερος), of *Messene, perhaps wrote while in the service of *Cassander (311–298 bce), but was perhaps active as late as 280 bce. He wrote a *novel of travel which was influential in the Hellenistic world. The substance of the novel is known from fragments, especially in *Diodorus (3) Siculus, see below, and from an epitome by *Eusebius. Euhemerus described an imaginary voyage to a group of *islands in the uncharted waters of the Indian Ocean and the way of life on its chief island, Panchaea. The central monument of the island, a golden column on which the deeds of *Uranus, *Cronus, and *Zeus were recorded, gave the novel its title Ἱερὰ ἀναγραφή, ‘Sacred Scripture’. From this monument Euhemerus learnt that Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus had been great kings in their day and that they were worshipped as gods by the grateful people. Earlier authors had written of imaginary utopias but the utopia of Euhemerus was particularly relevant to the position of those Hellenistic rulers who claimed to serve their subjects and on that account to receive worship for their services (see ruler-cult, greek).Less